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My experience playing with GF flours seems to have paid off. I am finally comfortable altering recipes without feeling obligated to first try them as is. This skill served me well over the weekend when I decided it was time to learn to make gluten free hamburger buns. Grilling season is approaching, in fact my BBQ loving husband has already fired up the grill a couple of times. We enjoyed some lovely organic, grass fed burgers over store bought buns. Honestly, they’re not too bad. Some of the GF buns are actually okay if you toast them. But it seems so silly to spend oodles of money on the healthiest meat only to wrap it in a bun devoid of nutritional value. So the bun-baking experiments began.

A week or two ago, I tried to form my regular bread recipe into buns but they turned out a bit dense and more like a kaiser than a hamburger bun. I opted to keep researching and keep trying and that’s when I came across this recipe. I liked the simplicity of the recipe and I could tell (from my previous bread-baking experiments) that it would likely work out quite nicely. The photos of beautiful looking buns helped too.

I try not to bake with too much rice flour so I opted to try the high fiber flour blend recommended by Living Without on their handy dandy Substitutions List. I used sorghum, teff, millet, tapioca starch and corn starch. The flour blend did not disappoint. Now, picky eaters could be triggered into denial of the deliciousness of these buns based on the darker, brown colour of the teff flour. I have not found a light teff flour yet but I don’t mind if my food looks funny. Purple potatoes are delicious so why not brown bread 😉 If your family doesn’t like strange looking food, you may want to use something other than teff flour.

In order to really feel like I could recommend this recipe to you, I just had to try it loaded up with ridiculous amounts of veggies. So I piled on the sprouts, tomato, onion all over a veggie patty. Guess what!? This bun has staying power! It did not crumble, I was not left eating the last of my burger with a knife and fork. I didn’t need a box of napkins to clean up my hands after. In fact, I’d say my hands were about as dirty as they would’ve been had I eaten a wheat bun! Really. It’s true.

Instructions:

Warm the eggs in a bowl of hot water if they are not already at room temperature.

Proof the yeast by measuring out the hot water, stirring in the honey then adding the yeast. Let this stand for about 5 minutes or until it is foaming.

Meanwhile, measure the rest of your wet ingredients into a stand mixer and blend lightly.

Gently stir in the yeast mixture (when it is ready).

Pour in the flour and blend for two minutes on medium-low.

The dough will look like sticky cake batter more than traditional bread dough. It should fall off the paddle but not be runny.

Drop the batter on to a parchment lined baking pan or a greased bun pan, dividing the batter evenly between the buns (8-10 buns). Shape the buns (see notes).

Gently rub olive oil over the buns and add sesame seeds or salt.

Let rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and the internal temperature is 180 degrees.

Yield: 10 hamburger buns.

Notes:

Shaping the buns: The dough cannot be shaped as regular gluten dough would be because it is so sticky and delicate. It can flatten out and become dense if over-handled. Water is the only answer. Use wet fingers or a wet silicone spatula. I prefer to have a bowl of water and a mini silicone spatula near by while I’m working. Once your dough is evenly divided, use the wet, spatula to give the buns a nice shape. These will puff up really nicely as you bake them so focus on getting them to the correct diameter and let the rising and baking attain the height for you. Don’t worry too much about getting the buns wet while shaping, this will not harm them unless you really soak them.

Oiling the buns: I prefer to use my hands rather than a pastry brush as the dough is very soft and the brush can leave lines in the dough.

Getting a rise: Make sure the ingredients are at room temperature as this will help the rise. They did not appear to rise much in the 30 minutes I left them but did nicely in the over. The texture was quite airy and there were definitely nice air bubbles (see second picture), so don’t worry if you don’t see too much difference in size before you pop them in the oven.

On flour: If you live in Vancouver, BC it is probably worth your while to make a trip to the flour isle at Famous Foods. They carry a wide range of flours, can answer questions readily and are more affordable than any other place I have found in Vancouver.